Katara's Demon 2 Children of the Eclipse
by drakeara
Summary: Book 2. Millions of years after the First meeting of the Moon and the Sun, the Minion of the Eclipse saved a waterbender mortal and took to her as a best friend... ZUTARA


FOREWARNING: There is very little of the Gaang in this Fanfic. Also Cannon and non-Cannon character deaths happen and some estranged violence. ZUTARA, BTW. Very zutara, but focusiong on the main OC. Thank you.

Katara's Demon Two:

Children of the Eclipse.

The dark eclipse shone on the back of the huge wolfs wings. With slow, elegant flaps she stayed high in the cool air. Yue and Agni together is an unusual sight. Not necessarily a good one for either of the elements inspired by it, but good for her, and all born under an eclipse like her. With a happy sniff, she turned her direction towards the ground and flew down. Soundlessly, her pads thumped down onto the grassy earth and her wings closed into her back. Out of the woods, two canines emerged. One for each half of the eclipse. The one that stood to her right had a clear, masculine scent. He smelt of summer and burning wood. To her other side was one with a more feminine air. She smelled of winter and moonflowers. They both towered over the younger wolf, the male more so than his mate, and had wings spiking from their shoulders. From where she stood, the eclipse wolf couldn't see their faces, but she didn't need to either. They were her parents. Contentedly, she looked ahead, then took a few leaping steps forward with hopes that her mother and father would join her. But they didn't. They had simply vanished. The young wolf whimpered and looked for them quickly. A hiss behind her caught her attention. She turned slowly and leapt back in shock. Out of the earth, a huge feline grew. It was made of blue fire and lightning. Contrasting and sinister gold eyes glowed from the monsters face. She had seen eyes like that before, but with something different to hate making them glow so magnificently. Love. Not love for her, but love for a beautiful bender. She would never forget such a state. Another growling hiss from the feline broke the wolf's train of thoughts and the wolf growled menacingly back. Suddenly the creature dove at her with its lightning claws drawn.

()

Valacoreahe woke from her dream with a start. She was panting loudly into the dark room and her huge heart was pounding in her puffed chest. Her sheer white eyes scanned the dark room briefly before they fell upon the sleeping figures in the bed. Katara was lying closest to Vala on her side; the arm of her fiancée was looped over her bust. The huge and still growing, lump that was soon to be Katara's child was blatantly visible. By sniffing the air, Vala deducted that it was just after the witching hour. She stood up and looked over Katara once again. All was still and safe for now. She nodded contentedly to herself, and pushed out of the door. She carefully padded along the corridor whist her claws clacked underneath. She stepped out onto the abandoned deck and breathed in the warm air. It was a beautiful night for a quick flight or swim. But what one? She looked firstly down into the deep, black water, and then into the blue-black sky. Taking a step back Vala leaped into the cool air and dove into the cold water. She used her feathered batwings to shoot faster beneath the surface and swim away from that horrible recurring nightmare. A few fishes swam past her and scattered when she playfully chased them. A group of feeding squids soon joined her too. The danced around her, examining the invading wolf with their huge eyes. In a cub-like fashion, she batted at one of the smaller squids. It changed its colours as if to try and confuse or intimidate her. Valacoreahe soon grew bored with it. She turned from the school and swam away with her paw tightly beneath her. The giant winged wolf then pounced right out of the water and landed calmly on the deck of the fire nation ship. With a tiered sigh, she curled up on the deck and fell back into a dreamless sleep.

()

It was nearly sunrise when the Banished Prince awoke. Zuko went into his usual cycle of getting out of bed, meditating for a while, dressing in his training clothes then heading out to train under the rising sun. The 16 year old petted the head of the wolf as she turned to look up at him.

"Good morning Vala."

"'Morning Prince Zuko" The wolf gave him a curt nod before getting up and stretching. "A beautiful one at that."

"I see you did no sleep in our room again, for the fifth week in a row." The wolf slightly shrunk under Zuko's glare. "Is there a reason for that?"

"I-um- just like going for a morning swim...just after the witching hour..." Valacoreahe knitted her brow together at the pathetic ness of her own lie. He was about to speak again when Katara appeared on deck.

"Vala, I was worried about you. You never use to get up this early?" cried the prince's Water Tribe fiancée, wrapping her tanned arms around her friend's neck. At the same time, the wolf and the prince both said:

"Katara you should be resting." They then shot a quick glare at each other, hating it when they said the same thing at the same time.

"I'm fine, guys; I have only just been sleeping after all." She then let go of Vala's neck and smiled down at the wolf. "And you haven't answered my question, misses." This only put the eclipse old wolf in a dilemma: She daren't lie to Katara, having a massive hate for doing so, but her premonisive-like nightmares and lack of sleep might worry the pregnant woman, putting strain on her unborn baby. Vala didn't want that. So instead she simply shrugged and persuaded her to see Iroh, for tea and things like that.

()

The Eclipse minion flew above the clear water, about three miles away from the ship. Recently, she had discovered the ability to change her size and so spent most of her time no bigger than a normal wolf. At that moment, however, she was her normal size, and flying very close to the water. Her only reason for that was that she was thinking. In a matter of days would be an eclipse, and her power would be at its fullest. She did not know as of what effect this would have on those who cold control fire or water. Valacoreahe had never really been near either of those bending types at that time, choose to use her full powers whist she could. But this time she had her responsibility over Katara to think about. She had, by partially her own choice, made herself into a Guardian and so those responsibilities would lie with her until one of them past on. She weighed out her choices in her paws: Honour her duty as a friend and Guardian, letting her place as a slave and minion of the Eclipse slip or obey the Eclipse and abandon her friendship. She shut her eyes in frustration and flue blind for a while with a disgruntled growl. Identity or family. Those where her choices, nothing else.

()

A few days later and Valacoreahe was still as indecisive as ever. For now, she chose to stay put, at least until the Eclipse gave her it's commands. If it commanded her to leave, however, and never return, she knew that she would refuse. She had to. Katara was currently riding on her back as they took a walk through the nearby forest to where they were docked. Zuko walked by her side, just by her shoulder blade. Suddenly, Katara squeezed Valacoreahe's sides tighter and groaned out in pain. Both the Banished Prince and giant wolf cried out her name in unison. Without a word, they worked together to pull Katara from the wolf's back and lay her flat on her back in the lush woodland grass.

"Move back please, Zuko." Vala ordered, pushing him out of the way with the side of her long face. Then, like she did when Katara first fell pregnant, she pressed her large ear to the water benders round belly. Her colourless eyes fell shut for a moment of concentration. "Katara…You…You are have quadruplets. Four babies, and they can't all fit in there, no matter how much you grow." Her head lifted to look sadly into Katara's eyes. "The only way I can save you and them is to get them out of you now…"

"But they are only seven and a half months old." She cried, placing a hand over her stomach.

"Katara. I'm millions of years old. I know what I am doing." Katara felt a little reassured at this. "Zuko, reach behind my left wing; you should find some odd pendants, a small potion vial and some bandages." As she spoke, she opened her wing up wide. Zuko reached behind it and pulled out what she had told him. "Only take four of the pendants. Now Katara, you need to drink this potion, it will let you loose your sense of feel for a while." Zuko held the potion to Katara's lips and she downed it in one gulp. From behind other wing, she pulled out four tiny blankets and handed them to Zuko. As soon as she was sure that Katara could no longer feel pain, she lifted up the maternity dress to buts height and lowered her face to Katara's abdomen. Her tongue shot out and cut a clean cut through Katara's womb in one slice. With Katara's blood now on her lips, she looked up to Zuko. "We must be quick about this: As I hand you the babies, you must wrap them up and place the pendant around their neck." The two worked quickly and quietly; blood stained the wolf's muzzle and nose and the slightly ragged grey blankets turned slightly red. Two girls and two boys were pulled from the water benders open womb. Masou, Anali, Nen and Ama were their names.

()

"Now, Vala. I've been trying to ask you for a week; What are these things around the babies necks? And don't just tell me that I don't want to know, because you know that I do!" Katara demanded with irritation in her voice, her babies happily fast asleep in a special made-cot. Valacoreahe gave her a look before asking her own question.

"Katara are you sure that you are ready to know? Because it is not pleasant and you will not like the answer." She asked blatantly, her blank eyes perfectly level with Katara's blue ones.

"Yes. Yes I am sure. Now, tell me, Valacoreahe. Tell me what they are!" The new mother water bender made no attempt to disguise her annoyance. Vala lowered her head a little before talking in a breath.

"They-are-fossilised-foetuses-of-unborn-immortals." She said quickly "Their spirits protect their wearer and make them less mortal. Heightened immune systems, stronger hearts and internal organs and less bruise-able and breakable flesh and bones. The babies need them to make it into their third month, when they should be fine alone." Katara made no reply, but stayed frozen with a shocked look on her face.

"…You put someone else's babies around my childrens' necks? You stole other peoples unborn children, turned them to stone and place them around MY BABIES THROUGHTS!" Katara was furious.

"Now Katara, calm down. Please-"

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!!"

"KATARA! They are not human babies: None of the Guardian Pendants are! They are dragons and dragakions and anthromorphs and even a few Angels or Demons! None of them are even, or would even be, remotely human. I would never steal other people's babies. Anyways; they are given to me by the Eclipse and they are created by the will of the remaining Originals, not me or any God. I would not lie to you Katara." They both lapsed into silence. Blue eyes and colourless eyes remained locked in place. One pleading for forgiveness and trust the other demanding truth and displaying anger. Both hiding regret.

()

On board an elegant Fire Nation ship, the powerful princess stalks along the bow. Her twin dark bangs danced in the light breeze in front of her cold gold eyes. She smirked when she saw a slightly smaller ship from the same nation docked in a Earth Kingdom Port and called for her captain.

"Dock the ship up somewhere hidden. We'll carry on to _Brother dearest_ on foot." Her voice was cruel and sarcastic as she snapped her order at the older man. He bowed respectfully, and got to work. As soon as they were fully docked and hidden from Zuko's ship's view, the evil princess and a few foot-solders got out a small group of Komodo Rhinos, and rode on ahead. Spies had reported to the princess that Zuko had four babies with a water tribe friend of the Avatar, and was being watched over by some kind of winged demon-dog. The dog itself had shown no powers more than shape shifting and flight, by some of the spies and a hunch that there was so much that she was hiding. Something about it just wasn't right. But Princess Azula had no concern for this. After all it was just a dog and dogs neck break easily. The sinister thought ran through her mind, causing her to crack her knuckles in anticipation. Just before they entered the town's docking area, she jumped off of her beast and handed it to one of the solders. She then walked on ahead of them, with only a few ride less men to act as guards. She stood at the foot of the ramp and called up onto the ship. "Zuko!" Her brother appeared on deck, dresses in simple black clothes.

"What are you doing here, Azula?" He did not trust his younger sister. "Did Father send you?"

"Yes Dad sent me. He sent me to bring you home. He decided that because you have provided him with heirs, you may return home." The banished prince rose an eye brow at her. "Honest, brother." Hope sprung into his eyes as he walked down the gangplank towards her. He stopped, about an inch away from her, and looked into her golden eyes. "He is giving you your honour, home and life back, Zuko. All you have to do is walk away from this pathetic ship and village and come with me. Let's go home Zuko." Though a huge part of him screamed out 'Azula always lies', he still followed her back to her rhino.

"You're lying, Azula." He stated as soon as he saw the number of people she brought with her. "Father nether sent you to bring me home, he sent you to capture me." Azula gave out a short, sinister laugh.

"Very good, brother, but a little late…As always." She snapped around, blasting a whip of blue flames at him. He luckily avoided, realising what she was about to do before she did, and ran. He ran back to the ship, and ordered the crew to get going. Fortunately, everyone was on board. Everyone but Vala, who was swimming along side of the boat. She jumped up onto the deck as soon as she saw the engines working, and though nothing of it.

()

The ship was virtually abandoned on the cool night that the crew had chosen to go drinking on. Iroh had also gone along with them, fir the company and the joy of a quate city like the one they were in at night. Zuko, Katara, their children and a night-watchman had chosen to stay behind whilst Valacoreahe had gone to visit Yue and her mother. The ship was calm, quiet and completely undefended. A single, lone man slipped up the gangplank quietly, and snuck up to the night-watchman as he sat looking out over the sea. He drew his dagger, and sliced it cleanly into the man's head. He then threw the man's body into the sae before any blood could land on the deck. He the signalled behind him. A dozen more pirates the clambered less elegantly onto the deck, carrying half a dozen barrels full of Exploding Jelly. It was all placed neatly, though somewhat randomly on the deck. It was at the very moment that it was all placed that Masou awoke. He cried out loudly, but did not wake his siblings. Katara nudged Zuko up, assuring him sleepily that it was 'his turn'. The scarred prince lifted the loud baby up, and held its head to his shoulder, as Iroh had showed him. The moment he looked out of the window, he saw the barrols of blasting jelly and gasped. A fuse of Gun Powder had been lit, as was making its way to the separate bundles. He woke his wife, and picked up one of his daughters.

"Katara, get up. Someone's trying to blow up the ship!" That woke her! They ran out of their room in nothing but their nightwear, carrying only their children and made their ways down the halls and stares with haste. But they were a bit late. An explosion rocked the ship, and a large fire started. As the second explosion went off, Vala barged through the door at the end of the corridor in her human form. She held out her arms and cried.

"Quickly! Or the fire'll block up the way out!" As they got closer, she transformed smoothly into her wolvern form. "Get on by back and I'll fly you out as soon as we get a way!" Katara jumped on first, holding two of her babies as close as she could, the Zuko handed her the other two, and jumped up behind her. He hugged her close, and helped hold onto the infants. The barged down another corridor, but the smoke was growing too thick. Everyone bar in Vala began to cough. "Hang on!" She took a deep breath, and from her mouth, a cool, blue steam emerged. It pushed the fog back and away, cleansing the air for her human passengers. The last door before the deck and welded itself shut, so the demon blasted out another lungful of that frozen breath, and made the nearby wall shatter. She jumped out over the sea, nearly crashing into it due to the excess weight, and flue up into the air above the city. The three of them then watched their home burn and sink. "Azula…" The wolf growled. "I know you did this… And it's not over yet." She then flue into the city at such a speed that her fur stood on end.

()

A few day later, Katara sat at the camp they had made with just her sleeping babies as company. Zuko was off, probably stealing and Iroh had found someone to have tea with. Vala had been missing for the best part of a day. She stoked the fire a little and looked over at her and Zuko's offspring and smiled with lonesome affection.

"Well if it isn't my dear little _sister-in-law _and her babies." Came the cold sarcastic voice of Azula, emerging from the shadows behind her. Katar turned quickly where she sat and gasped.

"Leave the alone, Azula." Came the snarling reply in an all too familiar voice. "You are not welcome here and you are indefiatly not any good here." Vala landed in the tiny clearing beside Katara in her smaller winged-wolf form. Her pose was perfect for a canine.

"I came here with a job to do, and I intend to do it!" She shot lightning at Katara who narrowly avoided. She took another shot, this time actually hitting her robes and causing her to fall back on to her bum. Princess Azula then drew back for one final shot. Zzzzzzzzzzzap. The lightning shot from her fingertips heading rapidly for the young mother's heart. As quick as sound itself, Vala jumped out in front of it and took the lightning for her. She landed clumsily on her side at Katara's feet. Suddenly The moon, which was already in the sky, changed its course. It blocked the sun from the earth and caused darkness to fall. A laser like beam shot rapidly from it and through Azula stomach. Soon she began to turn the same shade of light purple. She panicked and the light fully consumed her. Then the eclipse ended. And she was gone. Katara was still frozen in shock for a while, before her mind came back to Valacoreah. She shifted her position so that she was leaning over him, and gave out a cry.

"Vala? Vala! Oh, please don't be dead." She pleaded hopelessly. Vala cracked open her blank eyes to look at her, back in her natural form.

"Katara?" She croaked, blood spitting out of her mouth as she spoke. Her fur had lost its shine and blood was making the ground about them horridly sticky.

"I'm here, Vala." Katara was beginning to cry.

"Katara, reach under…my wing." Her speech was slow with her agony. Katara pulled out from there a small, wet and wrinkily thing that was breathing lightly. Its eyes seemed glued together and its body was govered in markings that was the reverse of Vala's. "That is my Son and the next Minion of the Eclipse." She smiled sadly. "Please take care of him, and yourself. Goodbye Katara, until we meet in the Next Life." Her body then went limp, and the countless years old demon finally died.

()

"-And may she stay contented forever more in the arms' of the Great Spirits." As the priest finished his Final Rights speech for Vala, her body, bound in silk strips, was lowered into the deep hole. Everyone stood around it, with a sad formality in their hearts. The four tiny babies were divided between Sokka, Zuko, Aang and Iroh whist Katara held the now orphaned cub to her bust. He squirmed every now and then in his sleep. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow over the grave that was steadily being filled with earth. The moon was just visible in the opposite direction. All of a sudden a bright pathway appeared from them both, landing either side of the grave. Two winged wolves appeared, walking down the holy pathway towards them. It was the minions of the Moon and the Sun. They sadly looked into their daughters grave and made little noise other than a small whimper. Katara boldly stepped towards thwm.

"You're Vala's parents, aren't you?" They looked up at her in unison. "This… This is you're grandson. I'm sure you want to take him. And be with all that is left of Valacoreahe." The male wolf made no movement, but the female took a step towards her. She looked down at her tiny grandson, and seemed to smile. The Moon demon licked her grandsons fluffy head.

"He's beautiful. And looks just like her." She looked over her shoulder at the Sun demon. Her voice was soft, kind and motherly, like her fur and her eyes.

"That he is." The Sun minion was almost emotionless. His voice was strong and deep, yet did not seem menacing. His fur was like a burning sunset. "But we cannot take him."

"But he is you grandson." Katara pushed

"Yes," The Moon demon replied, "But our daughter entrusted him in you. You must keep him and name him. Raise him as one of your own, he will learn his powers and his duty and control in his own time." And with that, the two began to vanish again. "We thank you, Miss Katara, for being our daughter's friend." For the briefest moment, Katara swore she saw Vala walk away with them. With them both gone, she looked down at the cub in her arms, and he looked back up at her.

"I think I shall call you Ralucoreyashi. Yes Valacoreah's little Ralu."

* * *

Thanks for reading.


End file.
